Farmers' management and restoration of cocoa agroforestry systems in Central America: The role of the associated trees in the restoration process

Deheuvels Olivier, Dubois Anthony, Somarriba Chavez Eduardo, Malézieux Eric. 2007. Farmers' management and restoration of cocoa agroforestry systems in Central America: The role of the associated trees in the restoration process. In : Second International Symposium on Multi-Strata agroforestry systems with perennial crops: Making ecosystem services count for farmers, consumers and the environment, September 17-21, 2007 Turrialba, Costa Rica. Oral and posters presentations. IUFRO, CIRAD, CATIE. Turrialba : CATIE, 7 p. International Symposium on Multi-Strata Agroforestry Systems with Perennial Crops: Making Ecosystem Services Count for Farmers, Consumers and the Environment. 2, Turrialba, Costa Rica, 17 Septembre 2007/21 Septembre 2007.

Résumé : Agroforestry techniques as they have been mastered worldwide by small farmers in the humid tropics are part of their low risk and low cost strategies. Far to be static, the functioning of traditional cocoa cropping systems is in fact based on a constant renewal of timber trees, fruit trees and of the cocoa trees themselves. However, most of the researches that have been conducted on these systems still consider the cacao farm as a plantation. This statement assumes that the cocoa trees have similar ages and that the cocoa field is managed as a monocrop-like system with a beginning and an end. In this statement, the farmer would give his cocoa farm a global management. In this paper, we present evidence of a tree by tree management by farmers which also includes non cocoa trees management. Based on farm enquiries and field observations conducted in the Talamanca cocoa growing area of Costa Rica (Central America), the results show that cocoa farmers have a tree by tree management of their cocoa fields, including not only cocoa tree management but also the whole existing vegetation in the field. Farmers not only restore their cocoa trees as they individually grow old, but they also take into account the renewal of the other species growing in the cocoa field and susceptible to compete or facilitate cocoa development. Thus, their cocoa agroforestry systems are made up of several generations and varieties of cocoa trees, resulting from the restoration techniques used by the farmers, which are combined with several generations of fruit and forest trees. As a consequence, agroforestry techniques contribute to maintain a permanent high diversity of cultivated plants but also of wild grasses, mosses, shrubs, trees and animals in these systems. The existing interactions between plant species and/or between plant species and wild fauna in cocoa fields appears to be a strong factor in the farmer's decisions regarding the restoration of his cocoa field. Finally, the stability of these systems that are regularly restored and regenerated is a key factor to offer permanent habitats for wild species, hence playing a significant role in terms of biodiversity conservation. This opportunistic and tree by tree management of cocoa fields is thus a key for its own sustainability.

Classification Agris : F08 - Systèmes et modes de culture
E90 - Structure agraire

Auteurs et affiliations

• Deheuvels Olivier, CIRAD-PERSYST-UMR SYSTEM (CRI) ORCID: 0000-0003-2819-8445
• Dubois Anthony
• Somarriba Chavez Eduardo, CATIE (CRI)
• Malézieux Eric, CIRAD-PERSYST-UMR SYSTEM (FRA) ORCID: 0000-0002-5706-9610

Source : Cirad - Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/540937/)

Métriques

[ Page générée et mise en cache le 2024-11-19 ]